Red voltage
by Dragon.Of.Chaos97
Summary: The world is at peace, Malefor has been defeated and the heroes of the land now have a chance to spend their lives as normal dragons. But a new dragon with no memory and strange powers appears, who is he and what was his past? With an new foe coming from the stars, the world must now place their trust in this new dragon. But is he up to the challenge? CynderxOC, SpyroxOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello boys and girls, I have severely changed the story here. It won't be random explosion stuff. That stays in Alex the dragon. Oh and by the way… _don't burn me for not doing a SpyroxCynder fanfic! I'm doing this anyway._**

**Now that we have that settled on with the show.**

Red voltage chapter 1: No memory

I woke up in an unfamiliar world. Hold on wasn't I meant to be in my bedroom? I sat up and looked around. I'm in a forest, a very big forest. And instead of being human like I was last time I checked I had the scaly body of a dragon. Riiiiiight. _"What will Mom think?" _I thought. _"Calm down Jonah, it's a dream, or is it?" _I walked over to a boulder that was about my height. _"Here goes nothing." _I slammed his head against the boulder. _"No Jonah, it most certainly not a freaking dream. Oh brilliant now the worlds spinning." _I staggered left then right. And fell over. After recovering from my dizziness, I stood up and looked at my new body; my scales were a bright crimson red, I had a pitch black chest/underbelly thing… oh whatever, my tail blade looked like a leaf. Weird, but cool. I walked over to a nearby puddle of water and looked at my appearance. My left eye was still a royal jade in colour but my right however looked like an azure gem. Again, weird. I had two horns that strangely resembled thunderbolts. Do I have something to do with electricity? Maybe. My wings looked like bone and my membranes were a vibrant green. My body was still the same, relatively speaking; I was tall with a bit of muscle here and there, nothing much. Oh and I had some moss green hair sprouting from the back of my head to the front, nearly covering my eyes.

I paused as I realized a slightly disturbing aspect about myself; I couldn't, for the life of me, remember who I am. I must have remembered a few minutes ago because I was thinking about… about. I slammed my paw onto the ground in frustration. I can't even remember what happened a few minutes ago. I sighed as I paced back and forth trying to remember, well anything to be honest. Whoever I was, wherever I lived, whatever I was, it's all gone now…

I shook my head in frustration and walked. No particular direction, just… walking. I might bump into someone and get some answers, or at best, solutions. I ambled through the undergrowth at a brisk pace, I felt tempted to walk on my hind legs for a second but… that sensation faded away quickly. What was that? Was that some sort of connection to my past? Maybe it was… at least I think it was. I shrugged and moved hastily onward. After a lot of time walking I emerged from the forest into a beach. My heart lifted at the sight of the sun shining over the place. All in all, this entire place was pretty darn nice. The sand looked like particles of gold and the sea, wow, it was clear and quite a sight to see.

I paused as I saw two figures next to the shore. They seemed deep in conversation, won't hurt to wait for them to stop talking I suppose. I lied down on the baking sand and stared at the duo. I couldn't really see them well because I was like a hundred feet away, but I could see that one was purple and the other was pitch black. They seemed… oh I don't know, seems I'm not that good with conversational skills. I watched as the purple dude turned black and hit the other… whatever they call them here. The other black creature flew over in my direction and the big black dude who seemed to have glowing eyes took off on his big wings and was soon out of sight.

Completely none the wiser as to what _exactly _happened I walked over to the now prone form of the other creature. I hope it isn't dead. _Dragon. _I paused as the word rung through my mind. Dragon. That is what I am, and what this thing in front of me is. I slowly ambled over to her. Wait, her? How did I know that this dragon is female? I shrugged, must be instinct or something. I could see her body in detail now; her underbelly was a deep magenta red and she had these silver pattern things on her forehead. She also had… ohh, six horns or so? Looks like that. They were pretty darn sharp. I gave this girl a nudge, then another. I sighed as she wouldn't wake up. I leaned in close and puffed my cheeks out in front of her face and made my breathing very noisy. Slowly the girl mumbled and cracked an eye open. Seizing my chance I shouted, "Boo!" The girl screamed and jumped away.

"Are you crazy?! You scared me half to death!" I shrugged.

"You wouldn't wake up." I looked up. "Err, do you know the dude that flew up into the air?" I gestured with a wing. The girl seemed quite scared. She grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Where'd he go?! What happened?!" She all but screamed in my face.

"How should I bloody know I was several meters away when he hit you, what were you talking about anyway?" The girl was frantically searching the sky for her dragon. She turned to me.

"Look, you need to run, okay. Get to safety and find help. I'll stay here and search for Spyro." Assuming that the purple-now-black dragon was Spyro I shook my head.

"No, I'll help you." I declared, with a bit more conviction then I intended. The girl rolled her emerald eyes and let go of my shoulders.

"Fine, but you'll regret it. My name's Cynder." I sighed as I moved away and searched the sky. I couldn't fly, I didn't know how to fly so I had to use my eyes. My blue and green eyes searched for any black splotch in the sky. I hummed slightly as I peered up and I swore I… _felt _something, like some sort of pull. I searched for that pulling sensation and turned to that direction. Cynder walked up to me. "What? What is it?" She asked me. I concentrated on that tugging feeling. It was becoming stronger, getting… closer. I felt it closing in on me, like it was a predator closing in on me. My tail went rigid Spyro charge at me. He barreled into me and Cynder knocking us both over. Spyro growled at me, the expression on his face promised violence of the ugliest sort. I knew immediately that he would happily rip my throat out at a moments notice.

"Who are you?" He snarled. I opened my mouth only to realize that I couldn't remember my name. I panicked slightly but quelled it and shrugged. Spyro only seemed to get angrier. "You won't answer me? I am Spyro the purple dragon—"

"No you're not." I cut him off. "You're black, with lantern eyes. You _were _purple but you're not now." I gestured with a lime green wing. Spyro got even angrier, I'm starting to wonder just how angry he could get.

"You dare?! I'll kill you!" Spyro charged me and I threw myself to the side. Spyro was on me before I could get up and slashed me with several flaming claw attacks. The pain was horrible as I realized I was turning to stone. His fire… was petrifying me… but Cynder smashed Spyro off his feet.

"Stop it Spyro! Please! This isn't you! You know it isn't, please come back!" Spyro snorted as he slowly advanced upon Cynder. They didn't notice that my wounds were healing. I wasn't concentrating on the unfolding drama as the wounds closed up and my scales returned to normal, there was this lime-green mist that enveloped it, my scales returned to normal after that, what was that? Was this… magic? Spyro was ranting on about hating Cynder.

(Tekken 2 Kazuya theme)

"And after I'm done with you, your little friend is next." I paused. Did he just call me… 'Little'? Now it was personal. I got up and slowly crept up behind Spyro. Only problem was Spyro noticed me and shadows shot out of his body and wrapped around my head. I staggered back and felt a painful impact on my flank. Spyro must have slashed me. I got up again and the pain began to fade away. The shadows retreated from my face for me to see a slightly dumbstruck dragon. "How do you do that? Why won't you die?!" This guy uses any excuse to get angry doesn't he? The shadows wrapped around my face and Spyro hit me with his purple fire thing. As I landed I searched frantically for a way to beat my foe. There must be a way, there must be a way. At which point did some sort of instinct kick in. I could smell Spyro, it looked as though there was some sort of red aura/outline that said to me; 'threat, threat, threat.

"S-Spyro… please don't do this," Whimpered Cynder from the floor. Spyro turned angrily and smashed her off her paws. This bastard was asking for it. Spyro turned to me and smiled.

"Now it's your turn." Spyro slowly walked up to and raised his paw. His arrogance cost him a few teeth as my paw grabbed his horn and my elbow went into his face. Spyro staggered back with a look of shock on his face. "Lucky hit." He snorted. He lunged again, I sidestepped and Spyro fell flat on his face. I jerked my head left and right, drawing audible cracks from each jerk. "That's impossible! You can't see!" I chuckled at the red outline's outburst.

"I can't, but I can however smell you." I charged forward and delivered a savage uppercut to Spyro's lower jaw, using my wings to propel myself and add more power to the blow. Spyro was sent flying into the air and landed with a crash. Cynder stared at me in shock as I hunched over and brought my tail up like a stinger. "Go Cynder," I hissed at her. "Find help, I'll deal with this ninny." Cynder hesitated but nonetheless complied. I turned back to Spyro and charged.

(Theme ends)

**Cynder POV…**

How is this even possible? No one, not even the guardians with their skill in magic could possibly match Spyro when he turns dark. The only on e who could stop him was Perma. I sprinted through the trees at a furious pace on occasion hearing the sound of explosions. I hope that dragon was okay… he was certainly strange though, I never saw a dragon like him before. Nor did I even hear of the abilities he had. His sense of smell seemed more powerful than an ordinary dragon's_._ Whatever it was, this dragon used it to his advantage… I hope Spyro doesn't figure out a weakness and… and… I didn't dare think about it.

The camp should be a few minutes walk from here, running will take several seconds. I tore out of the undergrowth to meet the ice blue eyes of Hunter. He seemed quite surprised.

"Cynder, what's happening? We heard noises." I blurted out an answer. "Spyro's gone dark again and is attacking a stranger!" Hunter's eyes narrowed and he picked up his bow.

"Get help Cynder, I'll try and distract Spyro." I nodded and ran deeper into the camp.

**Hunter POV… **

I turned from a fleeing Cynder and ran in the direction which she came from. I ran through the forest gracefully and with speed. I couldn't understand why Spyro would allow his dark side to take over like this. Nowadays it seems that only Perma could keep him under control. As I drew nearer I heard the sound of scuffling ahead. I arrived at the destination; a small lovely beach, good place for the dragons to hang out and have fun. I don't blame them for thinking this. I often wish I could relax for a bit.

But my gaze was glued to the two dragons in the centre of the beach. The dragon on the left was undoubtedly Spyro, his horns and shifting black scales gave that away. But the other dragon was like any other I ever saw before. He had crimson red scales, a black underbelly, bone coloured wings with green membranes. His horns were in the shape of thunderbolts and his tail blade was shaped like a white mulberry leaf, and he had _hair_. But I suppose his most distinguishing feature was his eyes. The dragon had heterochromia; one eye was an azure blue and the other a jade-like green, a darker version of Cynder's emerald eyes. The red dragon punched Spyro in the side making him hiss in pain. Spyro tried to lash out but the red dragon vaulted over his back and grabbed his tail. The red dragon gave a quick jerk and was starting to spin, taking Spyro with him. It would have been quite comical if the situation wasn't so dire. I jumped out of the tree line only to receive a dragon to the face. Spyro and I landed in a heap. Spyro growled at me demonically and grabbed my head with a paw. The control over my body was snuffed out of me in an instant.

**OCPOV…**

I panted as fighting Spyro began to take its toll on me. It took a lot of conscious effort to heal my wounds. My magic stuff was giving out now. I couldn't take much more of this. I panted as I settled down on all fours again to see Spyro corrupt… some sort of furry animal. I had no idea what it was but it was going down. Spyro pointed a talon at me.

"Kill him!" He bawled. Somehow I found hope in the fact that he was using someone else to kill me. It meant he was getting weaker. I sniggered and spat out a wad of blood. I paused as I saw it crackle with… red electricity. What? Whatever it was… I paused as I felt something in me stir. I let out an audible groan and stumbled as the power filled me. Spyro laughed as the cat dude advanced with a knife drawn ready. The power within me was reaching a crackling crescendo, I opened my mouth.

And I breathed electricity. _Red _electricity. The crimson sparks flew out of my maw and blasted the cat of his feet. He collapsed in a heap. I turned to Spyro and chuckled.

"Whose gonna die _now _bitch?" Spyro roared with wordless hatred and charged only to receive a jabbing combo from me. I punched him several times, knocking him backwards with each blow before dropping and swinging my leg, spinning on my other hind paw to gain momentum and power, clubbing Spyro's forelegs and unbalancing him, I rose up and kicked Spyro in the lower jaw, then bringing my paw down again, nearly slamming his head into the sand. I finished my combo by channelling red sparks into my fist, spinning on my paws before springing up, launching a devastating lightning fuelled uppercut. Spyro flew through the air. I landed smoothly on my hind paws. My right paw was still wreathed in that strange lightning like energy. The darkness faded from Spyro's scales, I guess that means it's over. And I was just beginning to enjoy myself.

"Spyro!" Yelled a female voice. It wasn't Cynder. The voice belonged to an icy blue dragoness. She had eight icicle-like horns sticking out of the back of her head, seven of they were in a semi-circle formation with the eighth and biggest spike in the middle of it, oddly enough it resembled a crown. She had a wore two sapphire encrusted bracelets on her fore paws. She must be rich. Her tail blade looked a bit like a snowflake and her eyes were the same sapphire blue as her bracelet gems. I stumbled slightly and spat out more blood, I'm like a stuck pig…

The female turned to me angrily. "You," She yelled at me.

"Hn?" Was all I could manage.

"Did you do this? Did you!?" She trembled with barely suppressed fury. "Did you hurt my Spyro!?" I tried to talk but I realized that I couldn't, somehow I found this funny. I made a noise that was a cross between a gargle and a chuckle. I was gargling on my own blood, again, I found it hilarious.

"_Horghl, horghl, horghl." _I stumbled left as my wounds which I forgot to seal up were taking the last of my strength away. "He… started it… _horghl, horghl, uuurgh." _I stumbled over to the new dragoness as Cynder and a very big moss green dragon charged out of the undergrowth. Cynder gaped at me while the adult gazed at me with curiosity.

"Are you the one that fought Spyro?" He asked with a deep booming voice. I took a staggering step backwards. "There is no need for fear young dragon. You're not in trouble, you stopped a potential catastrophe." I nodded dumbly and spat another wad of coppery-tasting liquid. "You're heavily wounded young one. I advise that you don't move." Yeah, like I need to know that fact.

"I'll stop moving when you call your dog off. Or I'll be forced to put her on a leash, _horghl, horghl, horghl." _I gestured with a wing at the blue dragoness. The adult jerked his head at Spyro and the dragoness moved away to tend to him. The adult walked slowly up to me. He looked old, or totally relaxed. I suspected the former.

"You have spirit young one. Tell me, what is your name?" I gargled again.

"_Horghl, horghl, horghl. _Nouughh, no… idea," And with that, I slumped over.

And the darkness took the pain away.

**Fight scene on the first chapter. That's how I roll. So, who is this mysterious OC? The one who could beat Spyro the dragon. Find out next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back, and so is… well you'll find out his name soon. And now ladies and gentledragons for another round of…**

Red voltage chapter 2; instincts

_I ran through the steel corridors of the bio-weapons laboratory. I was on floor B-2, I scrambled up the wall, allowing my camouflage instincts that were implanted into me to take control. I held my breath as the troopers ran past with their plasma rifles._

"_The test subject is in here somewhere, motion trackers." Damn it. Motion trackers, they'll find me for sure. I had to either get away or… or kill them. I was disturbed at how tempting that option sounded. Of course it was enticing, they turned me into this monster, made me a mix between human and Xenomorph. And they will pay. I slowly worked my way across so I could hit them in the rear, I nearly hissed my alien-like hiss. It disgusted me but it had its uses. I held back my hiss and slowly crawled on the wall ready to strike. The first one to die was the doctor. She was an android with no compassion and I hated her more than anything. And I'm going to enjoy killing her. My tail prepared to strike and—_

I woke up slowly and groggily. My muscles felt as though they were on fire. My stomach felt as though someone had surgically implanted a stick of dynamite in it and my hair was in my eyes. I blew up to get the strands out of my eyes, getting the feeling I was going to make a habit out of this. I couldn't move; I was too tired to do so. My blue and green eyes panned around to their furthest extent, even _they _hurt. I turned my head to the left, wall, now to the right, hearing several _cracks _while I turned.

There was a door, around three meters in height and rectangular in shape. The door had several swirling symbols on it and it had a pair of golden doorknobs on it. I tried to peer around the rest of the room but my head was swimming already from my efforts as the pain began to fade away. I summoned all of my strength to do one thing, and that was to say, "Shit." before slumping into unconsciousness.

I woke up again, my body hurt less and I could move a bit more freely. I turned my head to the right again to see a small golden if slightly blurry light. "If I'm not mistaken," I said blankly. "That if you see a small light it means you're dead." The light was beginning to resolve itself into the shape of a figure with two arms, a head and a large tail. It flitted up to me quickly.

"You're not dead man," It said in a surprisingly deep voice for a thing no bigger than my head. "You'll be okay, thas' what the doctor says anyway."

"What did he say?" I murmured. The small figure took a deep breath while fidgeting with his antenna. "Something about your anatomy being different to normal dragons, like you got a bit of something else in there and that your magical ability is all wrong, you won't take any green crystals. You can get the others like blue and red ones but you can't absorb green crystals." I slowly picked myself up. "And that you shouldn't be moving yet." I snorted. "I'm getting comfortable," I winced as some of my cramping muscles, wait… muscles? I looked down to see that was a lot chunkier than last time. My muscles were more prominent and I tensed to see that they bulged a lot. I felt a small, 'involuntary' sense of pride. "Okay that's new." I muttered to myself, I saw that my forepaws were more dextrous and had an extra digit; a thumb, that will be useful. The small creature crossed his arms.

"Dude, if you've stopped admiring yourself," I turned to look at the small insect. "The others sent me to ask you a few questions." I slowly rolled my shoulders and started testing my limbs and muscles to see if they were in working order. "Question one; who are you?" I chuckled before replying. "Answer; no idea, I thought I established that with the big green bloke." I furrowed my brow before shrugging and started moving my hind legs.

"Okay… question two; do you know what you are?" I rolled my eyes and glared at the small light.

"I just told you that I don't even know my own name, don't you think that renders the rest of your questions just ever so _slightly _moot?" The insect opened its mouth then shut it again. I snorted in amusement and stretched my tail noticing that it had changed; spikes ran all the way down it and the leaf tail blade was longer and more knife-like, no longer maintaining the image of the serrated leaf.

"Alright, you'll remember this one; how'd you beat Spyro?" The insect crossed his arms. I stretched my wings to their fullest extent noticing the gouging spikes on the wing joints and hooks on the tips. I grinned slightly and told my little tale.

"Well for a start I blasted his little kitty-slave to pieces with a bolt of red lighting. Then I beat him to death." I nodded to inform him that I was finished. The insect scowled slightly.

"He ain't dead either." He declared. I sighed ruefully and cursed causing an outburst from the insect. "Don't you go sighing on me like that! Spyro's my brother and he deserves to live just as much as you do!"

"We don't know if I deserve to live or not, I could be a mass murderer for all I know." The insect spluttered and grumbled to himself trying to think of a reply but I pretty much shut him up now. "Got a name," I chuckled at the scowling insect. "Or must I refer to you as 'the glowstick'?" The insect huffed.

"Sparx the dragonfly," I slowly got up and stood awkwardly on all fours before the blood ran into my legs again. I staggered out of the double doors and walked through the corridors at a brisk pace. Sparx followed me and settled on my head dislodging my hair, I jerked my head to get it and the dragonfly out of my eyes.

"I'm walking, you're flying, deal with it," I growled. Sparx looked chastened but otherwise remained silent. We continued on in total silence until a question rose in my head. "Who was that cat anyway?" Sparx hovered in front of me.

"His name's Hunter and he's actually a cheetah." I nodded in acknowledgement and continued on. We left the hospital and went outside. I was in a massive city with buildings that stretched up several hundred feet into the sky. For a moment I thought the whole place looked as thought it was made of solid gold, but upon closer inspection of the buildings they were in fact a golden yellow stone, gold or not though, the city was magnificent. I gazed around in wonder at the place. Sparx chuckled as he flew in front of me again. "Pretty cool, huh?" I nodded dumbly.

"This place is… is," I sighed as I couldn't find a word to describe it.

"Y'know if you can't think of a good adjective talk to Volteer he'll have several of them." I sniggered despite the fact I had no idea who the hell this Volteer is. As we walked through the winding streets of the city Sparx began to glance around the place in worry.

"Is there a problem?" I asked him, deciding to be more polite while I was at it. Sparx shushed me. "There's a few bullies here, just be careful." I nodded and felt for that odd red lightning power in my body.

"Hey Sparx," Sparx turned to me to see that my horns and tail spines were coursing and crackling with red electricity. "Think this'll scare them off?" I grinned savagely at the small dragonfly. Sparx laughed out loud and he high-fived me. I sniffed the air, catching a few scents but nothing of immediate danger.

"Hey what's that over there?" I heard Sparx say after a while of walking, I followed the dragonfly's tiny finger towards a massive crowd of dragons. They were surrounding something, or someone. Sparx and I walked up to the crowd, as we neared we heard a chorus of voices chanting the same sentence;

"Terror of the skies, Terror of the skies, Terror of the skies," Sparx sighed as we closed in.

"They're talking about Cynder. I used to tease her a bit about that until Spyro told me it hurt her feelings. But not a lot of others would hear the same message." I cocked an eye ridge.

"Cynder, the black dragoness," I asked him. Sparx nodded and I set off at a more brisk pace shoving through the crowd, causing angry murmurs to ripple through it like a pond would if you dropped a stone in it. I ignored them as Sparx flew over me and I burst into the centre of the crowd.

Cynder was lying battered and beaten on the floor and two massive brown dragons, around my size were kicking her without mercy. The brown dragons had moss green underbellies and ram like horns, their eyes, also green were lit up with glee, but I could sense that these two didn't have a brain cell to share between them, they were beating Cynder with clubs on the ends of their tails.

"The one on the left with the iron band on his right horn is Dirt, the other one with the brass horn on his left horn is Grit." explained Sparx quietly in my ear. Cynder's cries of pain… +FLASH+

_The doctor's pain filled howling her cream-like blood pooling all over the place as I gutte— _+FLASH+ I staggered as I saw the horrible image of the screaming woman. She… was… who? I shook the image from my mind. I stamped up to the duo and cleared my throat.

**Cynder POV…**

Over the pain of the kicking and the noise of the cheering crowd I heard a small noise that somehow cut through it like a knife through butter. It was the sound of someone clearing his own throat. The two bullies who were beating me slowly turned around as the cheering died down. I raised my (very much) battered face to see the dragon who beat Spyro, it was certainly him; the eyes and hair were the give away. But this time he was nearly as heavily muscled as the twins, and stood about as tall, and sharp spines ran down his tail from the coccyx to the tail blade which looked more knife-like. Not to mention the tail was a lot longer and more whip-like. He jerked his head at me.

"Why?" He simply asked. The bullies shrugged.

"Cos she's a freak," The dragon nodded. "I see, while we're on the subject of freakishness, you're faces look like they've been submerged in acid." The crowd "oh"ed at the newcomer's bravery of insulting the 'Terrible Twins' who were indeed ugly. The twins growled but a voice cut them off before they could attack, I'd be glad were it not for the fact I knew _who _it was.

"Grit, Dirt. What are you doing here?" drawled Shade the shadow dragoness. Her skill surpassed even mine when it came to the shadow element. Her six horns curled backwards so they resembled a crown, she had pitch black scales much like mine, but her underbelly and wing membranes were a dull grey, her eyes were two orbs of blood-like ruby which contrasted heavily with the rest of her body, her tail blade was a small curved blade, like mine only a lot shorter. She looked at me and smiled. "Ah I see, good work." The twins grinned broadly. Slowly a tear began to form on my cheek, why me? Shade evidently noticed this. "Aha! The Terror of the skies is crying like a wittle girl." She ended her sentence with a crooning hatchling tone to demoralize me further. More laughter.

Until the hiss came out of nowhere. It was the most alien sound I ever heard, no creature I knew about could ever make a sound like that. It was eerie and _wrong. _Shade whirled around in fear, until she saw the source of the hiss; the newcomer glared daggers at her and hissed again. His tail blade flicked back and forth impatiently. Sparx and I stared open mouthed at the dragon's alien hiss. The dragon stopped hissing and stepped forward.

"Now that I have your attention," He said evenly. Shade hissed at the new dragon but couldn't hope to match hiss piercing hiss.

"Who are you?" she growled. The dragon inclined his head.

"My name is… Crux," Shade snorted. "I see," She tilted her head back in thought. "You seem like a dragon that would help this bi—" Crux cut her off. "Yes as a matter of fact," Shade growled at being interrupted but Crux didn't seem to care that much. Dirt took a threatening step forwards.

"You dare insult the lady? You should be bowing and grovelling!" Shade placed a paw on Dirt's shoulder.

"Now, now, Dirt. He will learn respect soon. Besides, I like this one, he has potential to be a fine asset to our little fun group." I saw a twinkle of anger in Crux's eyes for a second, I wonder what made him so angry. Crux blinked and shook his head for a moment as though he was confused as well. Crux regained his composure and stared at the shadow queen again. "Well, what say you Crux? Will you join us?" Crux hissed again. "That's a 'no' in inbred freak language, then." She sighed. Shade nodded to Dirt and Grit before strutting away. The twins launched themselves at Crux and began to beat him. The crowd started calling for blood again and were disappointed when the twins stopped beating the dragon.

"We'll leave 'im 'ere. Teach him that _we're _top drakes around 'ere." They turned away and started to lumber away. I tried to crawl over to Crux but someone started to beat me as well. It was when two other dragons started to hit me again did I see something that made me glad, but scared me as well; Crux got up, surrounded by that odd green mist that healed his wounds and spoke quietly;

"I haven't finished speaking with you Shade." Shade turned around in shock and surged back to see Crux had gotten up and was staring at her with cold eyes. "I refuse because I dislike you Shade, you are a bully and I hate bullies. Worse is that you rely on others to do your dirty work. I guess you have someone to do your homework?" Shade began to bristle in anger and Crux cocked his head to the side and inhaled through his snout. Shade roared at the twins. "Take him down now!" The twins stepped forward.

"Yes, lady Shade," Grunted Dirt.

"As you wish, lady Shade," Sniggered Dirt. They closed in on Crux who crouched and hissed at them like… _something_. I couldn't put a claw on it.

**Crux POV…**

The scent thing was back again. The twins; Dirt and Grit were surrounded by a purple-ish aura. Not that much of a threat, but a threat nonetheless. I splayed my claws and leapt at Grit slashing at his flank and sending him sprawling and I +FLASH+ _Tore the marine's head off in a spray of gore and hurled _+FLASH+ Grit at his twin. The crowd screamed at my strength and backed away. I turned to Shade who had a deep blue aura around her. She was more of threat than the twins but nothing compared to Spyro. Could I switch this thing off? No sooner than I thought about it the aura disappeared. Shade growled at me and fired a stream of shadow at me.

I was momentarily blinded until my sense of smell kicked in again and I scented out Shade. I heard someone laughing and I saw a red outline noticing that it was Cynder getting up.

"That's useless you know. He can use his sense of smell to hunt you down." Shade scoffed and faded into shadow before hitting Cynder from the side. I growled and charged over Cynder's panting form and grabbed Shade by the horn and lifted her up. I was standing on my hind legs and jerked her in close, hissing at her. My tail was poised to stab her and I wanted to devour her when she died. Images of her bloody corpse all opened up and entrails bleeding all over the place filled my mind.

It was then that something snapped. I paused as the images flooded away. Shade was no longer squirming and looking down at my tail blade, which was a few inches away from gutting her completely. Horrified at what I nearly done I dropped her and backed away. Shade didn't hesitate to skedaddle. The twins followed in hot pursuit. I staggered as the images ran through my mind again and I was tempted to hunt them down. I shook the predatory thoughts out of my head and staggered over to Cynder. The crowd split away ain huge groups leaving Cynder, Sparx and I alone. I sighed as I went over to help Cynder but she backed away in caution. I took a few steps back in turn and turned away in shame. I stood there for a while until I felt a paw on my shoulder. I turned to see Cynder's battered face staring at me with pity.

"I know how you feel," She simply said. I sighed ruefully. "Come on, we need to go to the academy, we have a meeting concerning you." There was no need because the big moss green dude found us. Standing alongside him was Shade. She pointed at me frantically.

"There! That's him," She shrieked. "He's the one that tried to kill me!" The big guy looked at me with serious eyes.

"Young dragon, come with me please," His tone refused any argument, it's not as though I was going to argue anyway. I paced behind him followed by Cynder. I glanced at Shade who was grinning at me triumphantly.

00000000

"Right then," Began the dragon who introduced himself as Terrador. The other two dragons, one an electric yellow with a blue under belly and cream-ish wing membranes. His blue eyes danced with light. His name was Volteer, the dragon with the gigantic vocabulary. The other one was an ice-blue colour. He had several spikes all over his body that looked like icicles. His underbelly was a deeper shade of blue than the rest of his scales. He looked at me with cold aggression. Terrador looked at me with curiosity and slight disappointment. "What happened? Shade told me that your were trying to kill her." I sighed and decide to tell the truth of the matter.

"I nearly did," Cyril scoffed. "It was like this… instinct. I needed to kill her. Like a monster was straining to get out and be unleashed." Terrador's eyes softened.

"And what happened during this… instinct?" A tear began to form on my face.

"That's the disgusting part; I didn't want to _just _kill her, I wanted to _eat _her."

**And how will the guardians react to that I wonder?**


	3. Chapter 3

**First instinct kicks in on Crux, now it's the powers baby!**

Red voltage chapter 3; elements?

The outburst from each dragon was different. Cyril yelled at me for being an inbred cannibal, Volteer explained numerous psychological conditions that I could be suffering from. Terrador mused to himself. The amount of voices was driving me on edge and I let out an alien hiss which silenced everyone. I glared at them all.

"I am _not _a cannibal," I growled at Cyril. I turned my head to Volteer. "And I'm _not _mad." I turned away angrily my tail swishing behind me. I was about to walk away when suddenly excruciating pain shot through my body. I screamed in agony as I felt my muscles locking up and my blood felt as though it was going to boil. Terrador rushed over me and tried to hold me still, accidently nicking my scales with a claw. He backed away in surprise but I could see none of what was happening I saw…

_The marines firing their plasma rifles at me. But I was too fast for their human reflexes to follow. Hell, they couldn't follow me with their _eyes _let alone their guns. I crawled on the ceiling over their heads and leapt onto the first marine. His scent was the strongest so he had to go first. I stabbed my tail into his eye, killing him instantly. I grabbed his gun and speed away into the darkness. I fumbled with the trigger while the marines discussed tactics._

"_The test subject is smarter than any Xenomorph you've ever encountered marines, he can read our formation and weapons and formulate an effective attack route in a few seconds flat. You saw him take Connor's gun there, he knows what it was and he'll use it against us." The marines moved out into an attack formation, the formation was clever; each marine was positioned to lay down suppressive or overwatch firepower if need be. It was clever but the weakness was… there. In the second marine to the right, it was like chess really, if you wanted to remain alive you attack an unprotected piece. When the sergeant dies, well… checkmate. I slowly positioned myself to send a lot of plasma-cased bullets at the marines. My finger, a huge claw now, curled around the trigger. I fired._

I woke up in the same hospital I was in the first place. My blood was still boiling and my muscles weren't as bulky as before but I still felt strong. My scales were a far darker shade of red than it was last time. My wing membranes were now a darker shade of green like my hair. Wait a minute. My hair wasn't green anymore, but totally black with blood red at the end. My eyes were a darker shade than usual but were still the same… ish, pretty much every part oh my body has become darker. I groaned as I tried to get up when someone shoved my back down gently. Cynder looked at me with pity-filled eyes.

"Are you okay?" I grunted back. "No, I feel like hell," Cynder sighed and allowed me to prop myself up again. "But I think I know what's happening to me, sort of." I added lamely. Cynder was nonetheless surprised. The look she gave me meant 'go on' I started to summarize the odd dream I had. "… The soldiers were trying to kill me. They were hunting me through this metal stairway, it was dark in there but I could easily see, I killed one of them and nicked his plasma gun." Cynder did a double take.

"A plasma gun? What's a plasma gun?" I looked at her oddly. I tried to explain to her slowly but nothing seemed to click. I told her what they could do and she seemed interested from then on. "Sounds interesting, but how do you tell where this… 'gunshot' comes from?" I smiled as she was beginning to understand what I was talking about.

"The muzzle of the weapon lights up and it makes a lot of noise. It would have killed me but my reflexes were too advanced. But I felt as though they shouldn't be though. It wasn't right for me to be so fast." Cynder sighed and scratched her head.

"What happened next?" I shrugged.

"Dunno, but since I'm here I either got away or killed them all. Most likely the latter," Cynder backed away. "Clever," I chuckled. "I'm a monster, I know that much about myself and I know that whatever I was, it's catching up to me. I don't know what will happen to me Cynder." Cynder walked up to me and placed a paw on mine.

"I know how you feel, I was worried that I would turn into a monster, I was a monster once. The Terror of the skies. I served as a puppet to an evil dragon called Malefor, he made me kill like there was no tomorrow." I understood why Cynder was being bullied all of the time.

"You're good though." Cynder sighed, "You don't know how many times I've heard that from the same dragons." I slowly touched her cheek and turned her head so she would face me.

"One of my abilities is to tell how much of a threat my opponent is, it is determined by the strength of their scent. You're scent is very strong. What I mean is that you were strong enough to fight off the twins but you didn't fight. You didn't want to hurt them, granted you shouldn't have let them rough you up like that." Cynder looked at me blankly. "I know you're good, you don't look like a monster anymore. You're perfectly normal." I sniggered. "If you like, I could do the hitting and nothing could be traced back to you." Cynder chuckled.

"No, I'll be fine, but can you do one thing though?"

"Yes?"

"I would appreciate you taking your hand of my cheek." I blushed and withdrew my hand.

"Sorry," I murmured. Cynder giggled into her paw for a bit. "So what happened while I was down memory lane?" Cynder's face became worried.

"When Terrador tried to help you, he accidently scratched your scales and… and," Cynder took a deep breath. "It was acid, you have acid for blood Crux. Not just that it spurted out for a second but then it stopped and the scar healed, for a moment we thought you were going to melt. The doctor said you shouldn't have acid for blood unless your scales were dense enough to contain it. He was right, your scales are super-hard, harder than a dragon your age should be. You also have these odd sucker pads on your paws. To small to see with the naked eye, we had to use a microscope. The doctor wants to know their purpose." I scoffed.

"He's quite silly then isn't he?" Cynder looked at me oddly until I sprang out of the bed and latched onto the ceiling. Cynder stared at me with wide eyes as I moved around on the ceiling with no difficulty at all. I crawled down the wall and then finally onto the floor. Cynder still stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh shut up, never saw someone walk on the ceiling before?" Cynder shook her head hesitantly from side to side. "Get used to it baby, you'll be seeing that a lot." Cynder blushed as I winked at her.

Further thought was halted when Terrador came through the door.

"Ah good, you're awake." No kidding. "Come with me, the council wishes to see you." I felt an odd feeling of unease as we went through the door. We went through numerous corridors that sported several different pictures of the same battle. The black dragoness on each picture seemed a bit familiar… I went over to one of these pictures and pointed at the black dragoness.

"You," I simply asked. Cynder nodded. I looked around the place and grunted. "Seems slightly bit overkill if you ask me." Cynder chuckled.

"I'm not the only one that thinks so then." We shared a short laugh together before moving hastily onward under Terrador's stern gaze. We went through the _biggest _doors ever, but somehow I felt as though I saw bigger. The room was a semi-circular room in shape and had four flags with symbols; the first was red with a fire emblem on it, the second was yellow with a zigzag pattern on it, probably a lightning bolt, the third was a light blue with diamond shapes on it, ice? The fourth had green background with boulder shaped circles on it, something to do with rocks? I went into the centre of the courtroom under the gazes of all four. They introduced themselves as Magma, the councillor of fire, Thunder the councillor of electricity, Glacier the councillor of ice, and Quake the councillor of earth. I introduced myself as Crux somewhat lamely. Magma glared at me with all out hostility, Thunder seemed a bit… distant, Glacier looked at me with curiosity, and Quake looked at me with slight pity. Apparently all were informed of what I am and what I nearly did. They took it differently each it seems. I pinned my hopes on Glacier and Quake that nothing bad happens to me.

I took in their appearances one at a time, Magma was a heavily muscled brute with golden eyes and had four horns, two curled from behind his head to the front of his snout, the other two were more like tusks protruding from underneath his chin. His scales were bright orange with a cream underbelly, his wing membranes were the same cream colour as his underbelly.

Thunder was fairly small with three lighting bolt horns similar to mine, sticking out of the back of his head like a trident. He had several lighting bolt marks on his body that were blue in stark contrast to his off-yellow scales which were in no way vibrant at all. His wing membranes and underbelly were the same electric blue as were is eyes.

I took a shrewd guess and assumed Glacier was female. She was built like Cynder, thin and athletic. Her ice blue eyes were cold but held compassion. She had the same icicle things sticking out of her shoulders and wing joints like Cyril has. Her wing membranes were different to her underbelly. Her underbelly was a darker marine blue whereas her wing membranes were lighter blue like ice. The rest of her scales were a normal shade, not as dark as her underbelly nor as light as her wings. She had two icicle shaped horns with several smaller shards and crystals of ice sticking out of the back of her head.

Quake was by far the biggest of them all, he was a wall of muscle that I wouldn't want to fight very soon. His scales were the same mossy green as Terrador's with the same underbelly, the only differences between him and Terrador was that his horns came out of his temples and at first were level with his head before curling upwards.

"Crux the dragon you stand charged of attacking and nearly murdering princess Shade, do you deny these accusations?" asked Magma. I might as well tell them the truth but I'll leave the cannibalistic part out, unless they already know.

"No, I don't," I said evenly. The council members murmured to themselves and I saw satisfaction glimmer in Magma's eyes. I immediately took a disliking to him. "But," I continued. "Princess is it? Well _princess _Shade was attacking Cynder at the time. I was merely defending a friend." The council stared at my unauthorized sentence. Magma's hostility increased at the mention of Cynder.

"Friend's with that Succubus are you?" I wanted to hiss, but I held myself back for now, instead I fixed him with a sun-extinguishing glare. Magma seemed momentarily worried but composed himself. Glacier reclined in her throne.

"The guardians say you had… slightly cannibalistic urges?" I sighed and turned to Glacier.

"Yes, ma'am, I didn't know what came over me, it still disturbs me." Magma snorted.

"Nonsense! You just wanted to kill her!" I nodded slowly, shocking the court and spoke up over the outraged cries. "Yes I did, but more out of animalistic hunger than anything else." Quake leaned in close.

"Explain these instincts." I sighed and remembered back to the day I fought Shade.

"I wanted to rip her limb from limb, devour as much of her as I could and leave her there. The images were messy." I shivered as I remembered what I saw.

"And these instincts disgust you?" asked Quake. I nodded quickly as I felt tears building up. "I see, is there anything else that is… different about you?" I sighed and leapt up into the air, jumping up one of the huge podiums that the council members were on and landing in front of Thunder who finally paid attention, and stared at me with surprised eyes. I grinned at him and offered a paw. He took it hesitantly and I leapt off the podium and crawled down the wall. I then demonstrated my possible acidic blood. I slit my palm and it dripped onto the floor.

_Wtshhhhh! _The council members gasped as my blood ate into the floor.

"My scales are quite hard, a by-product of my blood being corrosive. It has to be dense enough to contain it. As a result my scales a hard to penetrate." I explained to the council. "Oh and this is usually what I do when someone makes me angry or annoys me," I did my alien hiss and the council's eyes widened at the horrible noise I made. Magma growled at me and turned to the rest of the council members.

"We can't let this abomination live," He snarled, glancing at me with anger-filled gold eyes. "We should execute him this instant." Thunder turned to Magma with a raised eye ridge and what he said made me very hard-pressed not to burst into laughter, "You're only angry because you have a crush on Shade's mother, grow up." My tail went rigid and I bit my tongue accidently cutting it with my stalactite like teeth. I nearly spat onto the floor before remembering the fact that my blood was acidic and decided against it, I swallowed the blood, it stung on the way down. Magma meanwhile went into a full-blown argument with Thunder. I crawled up the podium and said to Glacier, "Does this happen every time?" Glacier nodded.

"In _and _out of the courtroom, they never let it go." I sniggered and crawled back down the front of the podium and leapt down five foot, landing smoothly on the ground. Quake slapped a paw onto his face and groaned. He turned to say something which I couldn't hear to Glacier, she nodded.

"Okay since you two are too preoccupied to vote I say we let this dragon go," Magma was shocked out of his argument and glared at Glacier. "But," She continued. "You must be accompanied by someone who will keep you under control or we'll have to assign a guard to be with you at all times, until you are sure you can control yourself." That was reasonable I suppose but…

"Who's going to hang around with me?" I asked quietly, yet the acoustics of the room carried my voice through the whole room. Magma turned to the others and said triumphantly, "Yes, who would want to stay with this brat, I say we assign our most deadly guard that won't hesitate to ki—"

"I'll do it." The entire room fell silent as Cynder stepped out of the shadows and sat next to me. "I'll stay with him, if it pleases the court." Glacier smiled, she had small a twinkle of amusement in her eyes as if she _knew _something. Thunder seemed fairly amused as well. I gave them both a suspicious glare. What are they thinking? Glacier turned to Quake who nodded, then to Thunder who chuckled naughtily as he nodded, then to Magma who growled.

"_Most _of the court says yes, Crux will get a room that will be near Cynder's," I heard Thunder mutter something about being in the same room. Evidently Glacier heard it because she stifled a giggle before continuing on, "Cynder must accompany him in as many places in Warfang as possible, is that understood?" Cynder nodded confidently. I could see her out of the corner of my eye, glancing at me occasionally. Uh huh. I nodded as well. Glacier smiled. "Good, now that's cleared up," Glacier became easy-going in an instant. "I'm off for a bite to eat. Does anyone want to accompany me?" Quake nodded and the two flew off the podiums and walked out without a word. Glacier winked at Cynder on the way out.

I looked at Glacier then Cynder then Terrador who shrugged.

Why is everyone acting so weird?

**Why indeed? See you next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, school today! Let's rock.**

Red voltage chapter 4; super smart

It was 8'o'clock in the morning when Cynder burst into my room to scare me, only for me to land on her and say, "Gotcha." Cynder scowled as I hopped off her and we vacated my room. It was actually well furnished, not what I was expecting at all. The primary 'living' room was square in shape. If one were to enter my flat, the door would be behind them, evidently, there would be a bathroom to the left, and a food/kitchen/dining room to the right, the bedroom was straight ahead. The bed itself was massive, it had legs the size of tree trunk to support its massive frame. Such a pity that I didn't really sleep in the bed, it seemed quite a waste, I perched myself in a large crack in the wall, possibly the only imperfection in my room, but I liked it, I felt inclined to sleep in that crack.

"You sleep in a crack?" asked Cynder as I told her this. I nodded and asked her, "What's wrong with sleeping in a crack? It's perfectly comfortable once you squeeze in at the right angle." Cynder looked at me oddly and shrugged. "I suppose I'll give the bed a try. I think it's my Xenomorph instincts." Cynder paused and looked at me in confusion. "What?" I asked her.

"What's a 'Xenomorph'?" +FLASH+

_I was bolted to the slab in the examining room. The lights offering scarce illumination, I couldn't see anything but darkness. Suddenly the lights flared and I saw the android doctor whose name I didn't now, perhaps she didn't have a name. The doctor walked over to me and I heard the noise of another machine coming up alongside me. I couldn't see because I couldn't twist my head to look due to then restraints. But the hissing and screeching made me glad of that fact. The doctor retrieved numerous syringes and needles which were long enough to pierce bone. _

"_Commence phase one," Said the boss of the entire operation. "Don't worry, you will be contributing to science by being bonded with the Xenomorph species." The syringe cut into me and I screamed. _+FLASH+

I realized I was on the floor when the hallucination ended. Cynder was shoving me and screaming at me to wake up. I lifted my head.

"Xenomorph, that's what I was." I gasped as I picked myself up. "I was a test subject for some sort of experiment for science. There was this doctor who stuck syringes into me and made me a monster. They made me into a hybrid of some sort, but I can't remember what the other part of me was." Cynder listened intently, it's one of the traits I like about her. I sighed and Cynder beckoned me to move on. We walked through the streets of Warfang, many dragons glanced at me in curiosity and on one occasion a small hatchling pointed at me and said, "Look Mama, that guy's tail is _so _big!" The hatchling was a small neon coloured dragon with a copper underbelly. His big emerald eyes stared at me in wonder. "Aw, but his wings are small." That was true, compared to other dragons my age my wings were ridiculously small. The hatchling skipped over to me followed by the mother who was similar apart from the fact that her eyes were sapphire. The hatchling had a massive oversized horn on the back of his head that made him a bit cuter and a small horn on his snout. "I'm Gaia the earth dragon, and this is my mother!" The hatchling chirped. The mother stared at me in curiosity.

"Err, Crux the… xeno dragon." Cynder glanced at me. Gaia seemed ecstatic.

"Cool, xeeeno dragon." Gaia smiled at us before he could be ushered away by his apologetic parent. Cynder nodded and smiled, I was completely dumbstruck. I didn't know what to think, he thought I was cool because of my mutations, but he only saw the outside mutations, he didn't see what I can really do.

"Are you okay?" Cynder asked me. I looked at her and shrugged. "You called yourself a xeno dragon, you could've called yourself an electric dragon." Cynder raised an eye ridge as if to emphasize her point. I sighed and turned to the big academy. The academy was the greatest and most impressive building I saw _in this world. _I stopped, what was that? That feeling as though I never belonged here. It made me feel more detached from dragonkind. The front of the academy was lined and supported by eight thick pillars and the entrance gates were made of mahogany with golden handles. I could feel the suspense in the area, everyone glanced at me and to make matters worse, Shade was there with Grit and Dirt. She glowered at me with hatred but to be honest I didn't care much about her. Ahead I saw Spyro alongside that ice dragoness that I assumed was his girlfriend and Sparx the dragonfly. Cynder and I ambled up to the trio and nervously I said, "Hi." Spyro smiled at me, he seemed tired and he sported a small burn mark on his chin. "Sorry." I added lamely. Spyro sighed and placed a paw on my shoulder.

"I attacked you, and you stopped me, you shouldn't be apologizing to me." I looked up at the purple dragon that extended his paw.

"We never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Spyro the purple dragon of legend." I cocked my head at the offered paw and for a brief moment I forgot what to do, must be my bestial side. I finally took the paw and nodded to Spyro.

"If were gonna go with bigass titles then allow me to introduce myself. I am Crux the xeno dragon." Spyro scratched his head and before he could ask I explained, "The creature that I once was is called a Xenomorph." Spyro shrugged and said, "Sounds pretty cool." The female next to Spyro stepped up nervously.

"Um… sorry for shouting at you, my name's Perma." I chuckled and said, "I shouldn't have called you a dog, so there you go. We're both cool." Perma smiled nervously and we went inside as the bell rung.

"So what's first?" Cynder looked at the timetable which I also had to follow due to the agreement. She sighed and said, "Maths. We're screwed." I glanced at Cynder as she despairingly put the timetable back into her bag.

"Why's that?" Cynder shivered. "One of the ones who you aren't popular with," I said, my tone made it sound more like a statement than a question. Cynder nodded quickly. We entered the classroom it was fairly spacious and I scented around twenty dragons. My tail flicked around tensely. The teacher was a shadow dragoness that remarkably looked like Shade, except the only thing that was different was that her eyes are yellow instead, she didn't seem much older than any of us, so I'm guessing she must be new. Spyro, Perma, Cynder and I sat down on one of the five tables and the teacher scowled.

"Sorry miss that we were late." She growled. I stared at the board which held a series of complicated sums which stirred a few… something. I didn't know what these were, but it was like these sums were familiar. I've done these sums before. They were fairly simple to me but everyone else stared at it gormlessly. The teacher grinned pompously as she panned her head around the classroom. "These questions are on the sheets in front of you," My head snapped to the page in front of me. My hand edged to the quill next to me and I dipped it into the ink pot. "In order to do these time tables you must count up the table. For example…" I was halfway down the ten questions. My mind calculated the questions and I assessed my answers to make sure that I didn't make a mathematical mistake in any way before writing down the questions, in a few seconds. I realized that it must be another Xenomorph thing to solve any problems I'm presented with, in this case mathematical questions, or I'm just bloody smart. "Five times five point three eight two is…" The class apart from me was repeating after the teacher drowsily. At the end of the tutorial I finished and everyone went to work on their sheets.

It didn't take the teacher long to realize that I wasn't working. "You! Not working! Detention!" The rest of the classmates sniggered. I slowly chuckled with them. "What's so funny?" asked the teacher through gritted teeth.

"I already did the sheet miss." I said nonchalantly. The teacher laughed like a horse.

"As if! An ugly freak like you could never solve problems like this." I sighed, got off my chair and put my sheet on her table. Without a word I turned and went back to my chair. The teacher studied the paper and pulled out another paper, probably an answer sheet. The entire classroom except me again watched as the teacher's expression turned from contempt to surprise to absolute confusion. The teacher put the paper down and stared at me with absolute shock. I was helping Cynder with her sums at the time, not noticing the fact that everyone was staring at me. I glanced at the teacher.

"Yes?" I said politely. The teacher's jaw flapped soundlessly and I smiled at her confusion. The rest of the class stared at me with wide eyes. "Miss, are you ill?" I asked, pretending to be concerned. The teacher continued to look like a fish. "I suppose I taught you a lesson; never judge a book by its cover." The teacher finally found her tongue and said two unexpected words, "Class dismissed." The class became stock still for a moment before we all piled out. I packed my things up and strode out.

"So when and what next then since that lesson was surprisingly… cut short?" Cynder stared at me with shock.

"Crux, you just solved sums that well… adults can only solve." I smirked and told her, "I'm fantastic." Before one could say 'Wayland enterprise' (what?) Shade strode over to us and said in her drawling voice, "All hail the teacher's pet." Dirt and Grit fell in along side her and chuckled at her little joke. I shook my head and said to Cynder, "So what next?" Cynder glanced at me. As I hoped Shade would be pissed off.

"How dare you ignore me!" she growled. Time for the big guns, "I'm hungry, very," I turned my eyes to Shade, "hungry." She ran away pretty darn quickly. Cynder glanced at her timetable and let out a sigh of relief, "Combat class. Volteer said we would be joining him for some private lessons." Perma glanced at us.

"Err, you two, private lessons, why?" Spyro looked at us with a cheeky glint in his eye.

"Something you're not telling us?" Cynder blushed while I gave a look of confusion and explained, "No, there's an agreement that the council made me swear by, Cynder has to be around me so she can subdue me if I… go crazy again." Sparx sat on my horn and said into my ear I might add, "what'd'ya mean?" I tried to turn my head to see the dragonfly but I couldn't see him because he parked himself on my horns. I had to elaborate my tale a second time. I got mixed reactions, Spyro seemed mildly surprised and a bit sympathetic, Perma looked quite horrified, Sparx nearly burst out laughing. I glared at Sparx and he shut up instantly.

"It's _not _funny." I growled at the dragonfly. He shrunk away behind Spyro. Perma backed away from me, earning a growl from Cynder.

"Don't you dare…" The black dragoness glared at Perma. I looked at her and sighed, "It's alright Cynder, I understand." Cynder was still glaring at Perma, but she said nothing. Perma glanced at me nervously and retreated closer to Spyro who continued to give me the pitiful look. Without warning Spyro stepped up and said, "I know how you feel to have something else in you that wants to kill so much." I sighed as I remembered our first meeting.

"We should move," I mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard. The group nodded solemnly and the awkward subject was dropped for the day. As we neared the doors of the training room Volteer came and babbled a series of words I couldn't for the life of me understand. Only when Cynder went to go with Volteer did I understand their meaning. I walked behind them absently walking on the wall then switching to the floor again. As we entered a massive circular room Volteer gestured me to step forward.

Time to do what I do best.

I positioned myself in the centre of the arena, tail poised and ready.

"Begin!" cried Volteer, the dummies burst into existence, I—

+FLASH+

**Saw that coming, no you didn't, so Crux is super smart then? See you next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Another chapter bites the dust.**

**Oh by the way… Mister Zeus (or are you Alex Mercer? Ha, ha!) Thank you very much, I am indeed honoured that you said that. Sorry I stole your thunder, and if Viperwatcher were to read on my site and comment I'd die of happiness.**

**And Mister Hunter I will give some more info on Perma's past next chapter so rest assured.**

Red voltage chapter 5: Groves

**Crux POV…**

He's here, I could smell it on this ship, that bastard Groves, the one who started all this. _How ironic that his death will herald the end._ I sprinted down the steel corridor lined with ventilation shafts and pipes, into the waiting guns of the combat androids, I blasted a torrent of red fire at them. This was a new ability that I discovered; the acid glands in my mouth that I could spit are also a flammable catalyst, primarily potassium, which was why the fire was blood red in colour. The chemical reaction is caused by the gas from my digestive system, some of the gas can be funnelled through my throat and out my mouth, at the same time I would allow some acid to fill my mouth, I couldn't breath fire like a dragon, instead it was an explosion of sorts. The androids died in droves, and I didn't even get my hands dirty, yet. One android was still barely alive, my tail blade ended that problem quickly. I scanned the corridor, searching for potential threats, upon finding none I straightened up and stalked down the corridor again.

"Hello fellow hybrid." I turned to face the one who addressed me, hanging from the ceiling. She was a hybrid like me, her head was slightly longer than a human's should be, almost snake-like, her tail was slightly longer and more whip-like than mine, but her blade was smaller mine, her body still held the curves that she had as a human, but I could see some alien musculature that shouldn't be there. Her face was covered by a mask made of black bone, and her long hair was blond. Her claws tapped the metal floor in a rhythm that sounded like a heartbeat. She wore a skin tight tracksuit with holes cut out for her dorsal fins.

"Hello Elika." I said evenly.

**Cynder POV…**

I stared in curiosity and incredulity at the scene unfolding before me; Crux was going through another memory and now I could see it for myself. I could feel Volteer's gaze on me so I turned to meet it.

"What is this, this isn't what he was meant to do, he's meant to fight not do an act." Volteer got up only for me to stop him.

"Crux is going through a memory stage, he'll remember his past, we should leave him alone until this clears up." Volteer looked hesitant but nodded anyway. All the while Crux was talking with this Elika. Was she his friend in the past, and she called him 'fellow hybrid' so she's what Crux used to look like.

"So where is Groves?" Elika asked while she stared at her claws. Crux sniffed the air and turned to the left. "He's close, he should be in the command post if I know him, but he also spends a lot of time in the labs." Elika huffed, "You mean you can't find him?" Crux seemed mildly affronted.

"Something's screwing up my sense of smell. I think he's trying to stall us. You go to the labs I'll go to the command centre." Elika turned one way and disappeared, leaving Crux alone. He looked around and I could have sworn he noticed me for a second because he looked at me in confusion, but his eyes passed over me, he couldn't see me.

_I'm here. _I wanted to say. _And whatever I see, whether you murder or save, it won't matter because I know how you'll feel. _No, I was forced to murder in Malefor's name, but Crux… Crux was going to kill for revenge. No, wait a minute, kill_ed_. Crux had already killed this… Groves. I watched as Crux dispatched these odd dummies with grating voices, "Xenomorph detected, beginning termination sequence." They fired weapons which I assumed was the plasma cannon weaponry Crux was talking about earlier. Crux hissed as some of the blue fireballs struck him. His acidic blood flew out in a stream and hit the dummies. They backed away from the deadly liquid, lowering their guard for just a second. It was a small moment of weakness in their defence, and it was all Crux needed. I'm surprised he recovered so quickly. That green mist came back again and it was healing his wounds. "Warning; healing gene in affect, continue with offensive strategy." Garbled one of the dummies but Crux was among the immediately before they could attack. Crux grabbed one of their weapons and turned it on them. He unleashed a salvo of lightning bolts and blue fireballs at them. The dummies were torn apart, save for two of them. One tried to get up put lacked a leg to do so. Crux smashed his stolen weapon on its head and it fell soundlessly. The thing I noticed about these guys is that this weird blue dome appears some time after they die, whatever they are Crux is taking care to stay away from them. Crux turned and grabbed the other dummy, jerking it towards his hissing face.

I could have sworn that I saw something behind him, something big.

**Crux POV…**

"Where is he?" I roared at the android. "Where's Groves?" The android looked at me with expressionless eyes.

"Xenomorph detected." I snarled and slammed his head into the floor. I stamped away and scented the air. Where is he? Groves is here, he's close now. I sped through the corridors, sprinting up elevator shafts and killing any combat androids in my way. I paused when I felt something odd after killing another group of androids. The feeling faded away as I heard a familiar voice on the com-link.

"Trooper? Trooper? Is the test subject dead?" I stalked over and wrenched the radio out of the android's hand.

"Hello Groves." I could hear Groves gasping over the radio. "You,"

"Yes, me," I chuckled quietly, my voice resonated through the steel corridor. "I'm coming doctor, ready or not. It won't matter, you'll die anyway." When Groves replied, it was in a strangely calm voice, "I can offer you compensation if you like. You can have anything." I tensed. Hot, boiling anger dumped into my mind and I began to see red.

"Compensation?" I whispered into the radio. "Compensation!? For going through all sorts of pain for your stupid experiment, for being treated like shit, for being forced to kill innocent people just to prove what I can do, _for watching my family die?!_" In my anger I crushed the radio in my grip. Snarling in frustration I tossed the radio to the ground and stalked away, not noticing the tall, heavily muscled figure behind me. It stared at me for a while, completely invisible, barely a shimmer of distorted air, before following me down the corridor. I ran up to a heavy set of steel doors, damn. It will take a while to get through. The door was massive with several wires and cables on it to supply hydraulic power to the doors. There was a retinal scanner beside it. I sighed as I searched the area for corpses. There was a scientist of some sort beside me, would he do? "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," I muttered as I ripped the man's head and most of his spine off. I opened one eye with my finger and placed it near the scanner. It beeped and turned green. "Bingo." The double doors opened and I stalked into the corridor. I could have sworn I heard someone scream something.

"_Crux! He's behind you." _The voice echoed in my mind, I shrugged it off and resumed to walk inside. And there he was, the one who made me go through three damn years of pain and misery. Groves stood there, playing golf as though he was expecting a casual visit from an old friend.

"Ah, One. How nice to see you again." I growled and brandished my claws. "Oh come, come, now. There will be no need for that." Groves walked casually over to a cabinet and produced a whisky bottle. "Drink?" I shook my head and advanced with my tail blade at the ready. "I already told you that won't be necessary." The exasperation in Groves' voice was obvious. He poured whisky into a small glass. "I always see this as a good pick me up for the day." He took a sip and sat down on one of the control consoles producing a small data chip. Groves inserted the data chip into the console and a flickering image of a tall and heavily muscled humanoid. "Know what this is?" Groves asked.

"No." I replied bluntly. Groves got into a more comfortable position and gestured to the hologram, "This creature is part of a hunting species we have designated as the 'Predators'. This species has the greatest technology in the universe, and they are many times greater than a normal human being in physical aspects. That's where you come in." Groves got up from the seat after he finished his drink to get a refill. "You see, the Predators were killing too many of our scientists and destroying so many of our experiments with their technology that my benefactors had enough, so we thought of a means to fight back. The only creature that could possibly be a threat are the Xenomorphs, but once we unleash them we have another potential problem on our hands, so once I found out that your are immune to the implantation process I saw our solution; a hybrid. If I were to create an army of military hybrids under my control the predators would stand no chance and we could defend ourselves. But there was one problem to my plan, a minute flaw."

"Me." I murmured, barely loud enough for Groves to hear me, but he heard.

"Yes, you. You were the flaw, your resilient gene structure was enhanced by the experiments and rendered you immune to the hypnotic control program. But no matter, you will still fulfil your purpose, as will Elika." Groves put on an odd pair of glasses for a short moment before taking them off. "Very soon as a matter of fact." He was grinning inanely, how strong was that whisky, or was he just mad? "My experiment is complete and now it's your turn." The hair on the back of my neck stood on edge, an electric current was being discharged. I didn't think, I leapt to the side as a bolt of plasma streaked pass me and struck the doctor full in the face. For a moment that seemed like an eternity I saw Groves drop to the floor, his chest a bloody ruin.

What I saw next chilled me to the core.

It was a Predator, and his claws were raised and ready to decapitate me.

**Cynder POV…**

I knew now, why Crux was what he is and what he can do. I watched as he dodged the claws of this 'Predator'. It was unlike any other creature I ever saw, though it was made of straw and leather it was still terrifying. It wore a metal mask with these odd yellow flashing eyes, his claws were made of metal and were stored in some sort of box things on the Predator's wrist. I could see numerous steel discs and other things which I assumed were weapons. The Predator had these odd dreadlocks on his head, which waved around the place as it dived for Crux again. Crux dodged him and backed away, hissing at the Predator, "Want a piece of me? You ugly… son of bitch!" Crux turned around and leapt onto a wall, and for a moment, disappearing. The Predator looked around for a brief moment before stooping to examine the doctor who he just shot in the face. Suddenly he grabbed the doctor's head and ripped it and his spinal column out with a roar which made me shiver. I stood up in anticipation as the predator stored the trophy onto a small loop on its belt.

Elika sped into the room only to stop short and gape at the creature that stood before it. The Predator fired its shoulder-mounted cannon, which Elika barely dodged. I glanced around the place. It was evening now and getting fairly dark, and I couldn't see Crux anywhere. Why did Groves call him 'One'? Was that his name or some sort of nickname? Elika screeched and dived at the Predator, knocking it onto its back only for it to smash her head against the odd podium, to my surprise, sparks flew everywhere. Did that thing contain electric energy? Elika fell on the floor dazed. She slowly looked up at the Predator who slowly raised its claw to strike. Without warning the Predator's chest burst, getting a scream of agony from the creature. I looked away for a bit, retching slightly. I looked at the Predator again to see that Crux had brutally gutted him from behind. Crux was hanging from the ceiling, he must have been waiting… wait_ed _for the opportunity to strike. Crux dropped to the floor and helped Elika to her feet.

"Come on, we have to go." She told him. Crux shook his head. "No, not this time, I'm done." Elika stopped pulling at Crux's arm and stared at him in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'you're done'?" Crux sighed and faced Elika.

"I mean, I've had enough, I stopped Groves in creating more hybrids and the records are all but destroyed. Now… now there's nothing left for me here." Elika placed a clawed hand on Crux's shoulder and spoke in a tone of voice that made me quite… jealous? "We can take a ship, you and me, we'll run away together, just the two of us." Elika had leaned in and whispered the last part into Crux's ear. I wonder if Crux considered that option. He didn't seem convinced.

"I'm done with everything. I have nothing left now, my family is gone, and I… I want to be gone." I couldn't tell if Elika was angry or not, her head mask made her expressionless. However my suspicions were confirmed by her next words, "So you're just going to abandon me? Just like that? After all we've been through?"

"You don't understand—"

"No! You know what, fine! Go I bet you won't do it anyway." Elika stormed out and Crux was left alone. Crux went over to a big red button and pressed it. Klaxons blared as a voice sounded, "Self destruct sequence initiated." In the middle of chaos I saw Crux looking at a piano which appeared as he noticed it. I assumed it was Groves' piano. He went over to it and started to play a tune I never heard. Before the flash and explosion I could hear Crux singing softly, "I see a red door and I want it painted black… no colours any more I just want them to turn black…"

**Crux POV…**

+FLASH+ I watched as the world around me faded and I returned to the training room. Elika… Groves. I remembered them both and I remember knowing that that my family died. I don't remember the actual event but I know they were dead. I was right, I was a murderer. I killed in cold blood and I wanted to die. I turned to Cynder who looked at me through tear streaked eyes. Volteer gazed at me in shock. Do they know? I stepped forward and Cynder broke, she ran forwards and wrapped her arms around my neck, holding on tight, I didn't bother stopping her, I was too exhausted. My mind was plagued by all sorts of questions, who were my parents, what did they look like, how did they die?

And who is Elika?

**Who indeed? Fairly short chapter I know but you got a few answers on Crux's past.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay like I promised, some backstory for Perma.**

Red Voltage chapter 6; The Beauty of Reminiscence

**Perma POV…**

One word, yes one which I shall repeat over and over again; bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, b-o-_r-e-d_. Cyril's history lessons can be as boring as… as… ohh, I can't describe it, it's too rude. I nearly fell asleep on many occasions but my goody goody side told me to do otherwise. Bastard goody goody side. I have nothing to do whatsoever, except think about stuff. I wonder…

The time I met Spyro was good, but it might give Cyril the impression that I'm enjoying his class. Ah, well, the risk is acceptable. Oh how long has it been, two years now? What a riot…

_Two years ago… _

I unpacked, finally. Honestly, _why _did my parents have to send so much freaking stuff with me? I'm not going to get dirty all of time or something, and I'm not picky either. It was at the point where my fuming had reached its crescendo did I hear a noise, no wait, several noises; girly screaming, fast paw steps indicating that someone's running and ragged breathing, I know what that is, just as a purple blur sped past me I nodded while pushing my lower jaw out, yup.

"Hello Spyro, closet on the right." Spyro fled inside said closet and a horde of female dragons charged up to me and I could sense the unspoken question in their eyes. "He went that way." I said, pointing down a completely different corridor. The crowd of screaming dragonesses went past down the corridor I had pointed at. "All clear," Spyro doesn't come out. I walked up to the closet with grace you'd expect from a princess until I was within whispering distance I said 'calmly', "HEY BUB, THEY'RE GONE NOW!" in order to emphasize my point I gave the door a mighty thwack from my tail, earning a yelp from inside. The door opened and hit me on the snout resulting in me falling on my rump. Spyro clutched his head while I had a paw over my sore snout.

"Who're you?" Spyro groaned. I got up and brushed myself off, scowling. "Name's Perma, you better watch where you're opening doors matey." Spyro's eyes widened in surprise and for a moment I felt bad, but that didn't last long. Spyro sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you; I was just a bit unsure if anyone was still out there." I raised an eye ridge at the purple dragon.

"Well, at least you get your exercise, I mean, with the world actually safe and all you tend to gain a little weight with all that lack of movement. Not to mention the celebratory feasting." Spyro chuckled and said, "Yeah that was a good day. I never saw so much food in my life. I was actually dribbling." This earned a laugh from me, I'm not cruel but what he said was funny to me. "Hey do you want to have a snack with me at the hall, you're the first dragoness that hasn't ogled me so…" I nodded in understanding and we went to the mess hall.

_Three weeks later…_

You know how those fan girls are always chasing Spyro? Well I know how they feel now… Spyro is quite charming; I don't fancy him, not quite… just… stirrings. Yes, stirrings, that's all. One particularly weird thing is that Cynder always looks so angry when Spyro talks to me, what is with that? Speaking of which, where is that purple goofball?

As though on cue Spyro collided into me.

"They're chasing me again!" he panted breathlessly. He got off me and looked around in a panic. "Where's the closet? Where's the freaking closet?!" I got up slowly as Spyro walked up to me and screamed in my face, I was thinking too hard to hear what he was saying. Where can he go this time? I could hear the fans closing in and I did the last thing that neither of us was expecting; I kissed Spyro. Not just a swift peck, a _full on _kiss. Several things happened at once; first, I felt this odd warmth spread through my body; second, the girls came around the corner and third; _Cynder_ came from the other side of the corridor and along with the fans, saw Spyro and I kissing. The girls hissed and growled but backed away anyway when I broke off. Cynder was gone immediately. The crowd left in twos and threes but as the rest of the fan girls realized that Spyro was 'taken'. Spyro stared at me with wide-eyed shock. I was quite freaked out myself.

"S-Spyro, I… I." I ran away before he could reply.

_Several days later…_

I haven't spoken to Spyro for a while. Not since that day. I don't know what came over me but it wasn't a particularly bad feeling. Perhaps I do fancy him. I sighed and sat down on my haunches. I was in my room. It was decorated with many paintings that my parents sent with me. There was one with a massive troll being defeated by a gigantic fire dragon, then there was an ice dragon making a sculpture of a cheetah, then there was… him.

Spyro and Cynder defeating Malefor. Malefor was lying battered and broken on the stone floor with Spyro staring down at him with a solemn look. I don't really know why they gave him that expression, but oh well. Cynder was flying around in the background with a look of relief on her face, now _that _I can understand. I would be quite relieved myself if I managed to beat the one who could blow up a whole damn planet. A knock on the door startled me out of my trance. I ambled over to the door and opened it. My breath caught in my throat. It was Spyro.

"We need to talk." He said. I didn't need to ask about what. I let Spyro in and sat down on my haunches. He did the same.

"Look," I began. "What happened back there, I wasn't thinking okay. I…" I couldn't finish the sentence and I turned away. Spyro walked up to me and draped a wing over me. "It's okay you know. I didn't mind." I started. Did he just say that? I wanted to say something but when I turned to speak to him he kissed me.

That did it. I practically flung myself at him. We shared a moment of pure bliss before Spyro and I broke away.

"Perma?" he said.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." I chuckled. "I love you too." I told him.

_Two days later…_

This was the most shocking memory, and frankly made me quite guilty. Cynder had cornered me against a wall. She said that she wanted to talk to me.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked her. In reply she grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. I couldn't even let out a squeak of surprise.

"Hurt Spyro and I'll kill you." Cynder snarled at me.

"W-what?" Cynder let me go and stalked away. "Wait!" she turned to me with tear-filled eyes. "Please don't hurt Spyro." She said in a much weaker voice. "He chose _you_, he loves _you_. Don't ever turn your back on him." her tone hardened slightly and she put emphasis on the words 'you'. Then it clicked.

"Oh…" I was horrified. "You don't…" Cynder nodded and turned away. "Look after him…" she said while keeping her gaze away from me. "Never let him go." She walked away. I didn't know if she could hear me or not but I said it anyway,

"I promise…"

_Back in the present…_

I shivered at that particular memory and was unaware of how much time had passed. Spyro gave me a nudge. "Perma, lesson time's over. Lunch time now." He said kindly. I glanced at him. I never broke the promise I made. I got up slowly and walked out alongside Spyro. He gave a mighty yawn, showing his pearly white fangs.

"You really need to get eight hours, ya know that?" I teased him. Sparx flew in beside me.

"You have no idea how many times I said that." He grinned. Spyro scowled at us and we laughed in his face. "Come on grumpytail, let's go to get some grub." We walked down the corridor, going past several dragons that either turned to gape at Spyro, some even nodded. A few females glared at me. I sniggered. Let them hate me, I got someone in my life. We eventually broke free of the crowd and Cynder appeared from the crowd.

"Hey guys? How was history?" she grinned, expecting me to make a joke about Cyril. Which I did, "Fairly interesting, this blue… machine just droned nonsensical nonsense." Cynder sniggered. Spyro also chuckled.

"You know you shouldn't make fun of the teachers." Cynder managed to say through giggles. I shrugged and said, "Ah, well. Watcha gonna do?"

"Well we could tell Cyril." Spyro and I yelped but Cynder remained oddly calm when the mysterious voice echoed out of nowhere. Cynder looked up as we panicked.

"Hello Crux." I looked up and saw Crux _standing_ on the ceiling. The xeno dragon grinned down at us his blue and green eyes turned to Spyro.

"Beat that, purple boy." Spyro raised an eye ridge and challenged, "Sure, if you walk down without falling." Cynder rolled her eyes and Crux obliged. He walked like it was no trouble at all, his massive tail flicking behind him as he made his way to the floor. Crux grinned at us and jerked his head, dislodging his hear out of his eyes.

"I know what you can do Spyro, I took the time to read some books about purple dragons, but you don't know me." Spyro straightened up and sized up against Crux. Cynder scooted over to me and whispered into my ear, "Males, all the same." I nodded in agreement.

"Who do you think will win?" Cynder shrugged and said, "I saw what Spyro could do, he fixed an entire world up but Crux is a killer. He single-handedly tore through an entire building of enemies that can stand a fair chance against Spyro and he… fought something which would've outright killed him." I glanced at her in confusion. "I won't tell you." Can she read my mind? "And neither will Crux."

"Damn." I glanced at the arguing males. "Do you think they'll resort to violence?" I asked Cynder. She shrugged and sniggered.

"Dunno, I don't know Crux but as far as I can tell he's pretty well tempered but he has some feral instincts that best remain undisturbed." Her tone took on a serious form. "We should listen in." we sneaked up to the males and we could hear them.

"…you were lucky." said Spyro. Crux raised an eye ridge and retorted, "Really? You were going all out to me, face it Spyro, if anyone could take you on, it would be me." Spyro let out a bark of laughter. I glanced around, we were attracting stares. Rumours will spread; the dragon who challenged Spyro.

"You know what I can do Crux, you must be slightly scared." Spyro smiled. I knew that grin; the 'Bring it on' grin. Crux shrugged.

"I've forgotten that emotion a long time ago. The same goes for remorse, pity and morality." Spyro laughed and flexed his, in my opinion, impressive muscles. "Bring it!" he laughed.

"Your funeral." The two charged at each other. Spyro slammed his paw into Crux's gut and sent the red dragon flying backwards. But Crux was immediately up and his tail flicked out. Spyro toppled onto his side and Crux pressed his tail blade against his neck. "I have just cut through one of your arteries and you're bleeding to death right now, I win." Spyro got up with a scowl.

"I didn't use my elements." He wined, sounding much like a child. Crux spun around and his tail was wrapped around Spyro's neck. "Bang, dead." I saw that Cynder was smiling. I smiled too, Spyro's never been _this _humiliated before.

"Just you wait, there's a free lesson next for me, what about you?" Crux grinned it was all Spyro needed. "Well in that case, you and me in the sparring arena, elements allowed." Crux nodded.

Oh boy…"

**Another fight between the two. Spyro wasn't done a lot of justice during the previous fight so another one is due.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Dark Spyro: Hold on, how can ordinary me fight Crux?**

**Well you see, no I'll let Cynder explain, take it away Cynder.**

Red Voltage Chapter 7; Xeno versus Dragon

**Cynder POV…**

Males, all the same. I kept thinking that phrase that was popular among the womenfolk; men, all the ruddy same. Ruddy, never thought I'd use that word before. I sat in the cafeteria in the Academy, barely aware of the chatter all around me.

Elika… Crux… the Predator. It felt like it should make sense, but never did. Why use a child for these experiments? It was all so unfair. I looked over at Crux, his face scrunched up in thought red-tipped hair covering half of his left eye, he was going to… he jerked his head and his hair was out of his eyes, he was pretty cute when he did that. Someone nudged me and I tore my gaze away from the deep crimson dragon and they locked onto Perma, who wore a massive smirk on her face.

"I'm guessing you'll be the leader of the Crux fan club?" I was startled out of my trance and my mouth seemed to flap like a fish. "I, um, well it's, um, err, I, damn it!" I finally managed to regain control of my tongue. "Okay, okay, me and Crux have a lot to relate to, we both went through hell and it marked us, me, it was my title that echoed through everyone's nightmares, him, it was the look of a creature that struck fear into nearly every creature in the galaxy. In a way he's lucky, he doesn't remember his past. He's so… I can't think about it." I sighed and propped my head up with a paw. "I don't know what I feel." I looked around cautiously, Spyro and Sparx had gone to get some food and Crux was evidently miles away so no one would hear. "I have residual feelings for Spyro." I whispered, despite the fact I knew no one would hear. "But Crux has changed things, he's more like me than ever and… well, I'm attached to him, literally." I was referring to the Council's order.

"Well, ask him out after this." I clamped my paw on Perma's mouth. "Are you crazy? I don't fancy him. Gaah!" I hissed as Perma's face suddenly became ice cold, she looked at me with a raised eye ridge.

"Cynder, you know the rules, no touchy the Permy, only one dragon is exempt to that rule." Crux must have stirred from his reverie because both of us turned to the sound of his voice, "Can Spyro see in the dark?" he asked out of the blue. We shook our heads 'no'. "Thank you, I can." He added on a conversational note.

"But he can use fire." Crux shivered. "I don't like fire," he said. "It hurts my eyes and it will set my hair on fire, plus I have a personal issue with fire in general, God damn napalm…" I spoke without thinking, "I can help you. You know, discuss tactics." Perma leaned back with an expression that could only be described as; 'yeah, uh huh.' Crux smiled and nodded as Spyro sat down on the table.

"What's up?"

"Crux can see in the dark but is scared of fire." said Perma with a grin. Spyro's head snapped up and immediately he withdrew a piece of paper from his bag underneath the table and proceeded to write down notes.

"Dark… Fire…" I could hear him mumbling. He noticed our stares because he said, "What? I'm not charging in like last time." I sighed. Perma glared at Spyro. "Back off purple boy, confidential information," Spyro slid away at Perma's barbed words. Crux looked away and went back into his trance.

"So who do you think will win?" Perma asked me, now serious."

"I don't know, Spyro saved the world, he took down entire armies by himself and defeated Gaul and I. He's the strongest dragon here, despite his age. Crux though, he was born for one thing; he was designed to hunt and kill a creature that is probably the best hunter in the universe, so I think if anyone can take down Spyro, it'll be Crux." Perma's eyes widened and she cupped her paw around her chin.

"So Crux is designed to kill while Spyro is a purple dragon. Does Crux know the full extent of Spyro's abilities?" I shook my head but I didn't relent.

"Spyro doesn't know what Crux can do save for his element, which is stunted at best, he can only channel electricity to parts of his body due to his bones being conductible, like carbon being able to conduct electricity you know? Crux has many biological abilities, his sense of smell can track down Spyro and if he finds a way to darken the arena then Spyro won't stand a chance, Crux will take him down."

"But Spyro, all of his power must account for something, right?" I nodded in agreement.

"It does, and unless Crux can adapt to all of that elemental power then he might as well concede now, but that's the point, he was designed to hunt creatures that adapt all of the time to hunt things better, it's instinctive to Crux. I just don't know." Perma smirked at me. "Cynder, you're rooting for Crux, admit it." I hissed at Perma but her smile never faded. "Okay, fine. Yes, I'm rooting for Crux. Neither he nor Spyro have no idea what they are capable of, but Crux has been through a lot of pain and is no stranger to death."

"Like you?" Perma's question caught me off guard. But now that I think about it, we were similar; we were both changed, both used and both outcasts, in a sense. I slowly nodded and looked at Crux as he got up and left with Spyro, a grim look of determination on his face, which, in my opinion, looked pretty cute.

**Crux POV…**

To say that I was fearless would be an overstatement; no one is truly fearless save for the Xenomorphs, which would happily die for the Matriarch. I was part Xenomorph, but not entirely, I still had an identity to hold onto, even though I don't know what it is. And, with identity came emotions, one of them being fear.

I felt fear now, I feared the power of the purple dragon, his powers were beyond measure and I wondered if all of the things that were grafted into me will be enough to beat him. But I beat him before, that must count for something… I sighed, it's never easy. But perhaps I was over thinking this, it is just a sparring match after all. I looked over to Spyro, who stood stretching his muscles and firing a few experimental elemental shots, alternating between earth, electricity, fire and ice. Spyro nodded, satisfied that he was ready. I didn't need to stretch; I don't get cramps, what type of Xenomorph would get a cramp?

"Ready to get beaten Crux?" Spyro asked me. I looked at him cautiously, every sense was ready, detecting the faintest noise, which when inside a massive hall filled with screaming dragons was quite a feat to achieve, I could hear Spyro's heart hammering in his chest; he was nervous too.

"I beat you once before, yes?" I said back. Spyro only smiled and we both took our places. Spyro was poised and ready, keeping his limbs spread out and ready to pounce at a moments notice. Someone shouted , "Begin!" and the world exploded around me.

Spyro went on the offensive, firing bursts of fire at me, he intended to drive me away so I couldn't engage him in single combat where I had the advantage. But speed was another thing I was better than Spyro at, I darted away from the fire and closed in on Spyro who turned and spat out a massive fire bomb.

"Damn it…" I hissed as I leaped away from the projectile, landing awkwardly on my paws. I let loose a barrage of red lightning at Spyro who cursed and got a face full of electricity. Now, I charged forwards, hoping to close the distance and give Spyro a beat down. Spyro had other ideas, and I didn't know that the earth element specialized in blasting the enemy away with a kinetic burst of elemental energy. I soon found myself five feet away from Spyro and in a vulnerable position.

I snarled and scrambled up, glaring at Spyro and circled around him, we did this for a while, eyeing each other and sizing each other up. There must be a way to fight in my conditions; absolute darkness. There were no windows in the arena and not a lot of light came one from the cracks through the closed doors. The only light was from the eight torches placed in the octagon-like room. An idea sparked in my head, I slowly moved to one of the torches and struck it with my tail blade.

"The hell?" said Spyro.

"You're used to straight forward fights, charging at your enemy and giving them a right and proper beating, you don't specialize in the long game." The arena lost some of its light as I hit another torch. Seeing my ploy Spyro sprinted over to one of the nearby torches and guarded it. With a derisive snort I fired a shot of electricity at it, but to my surprise Spyro countered it with his own electricity. "Okay, inconvenient." I set about hitting the torches that Spyro didn't defend, but again I underestimated the power of the elements as my paw was frozen against the floor.

"Now you're in trouble." Spyro grinned as he rushed in on me. I needed to drive him away, I fired my bolts at him but he dodged them with ease, how was he moving so fast? Spyro was in front of me and slammed me off of my paws, breaking the small clump of ice that glued me to the floor in the first place.

"Crap." I spat as I tried to get up, but Spyro was on top of me and pinned me down, he summoned a semi ring of earth that kept my tail down.

"Three, two, one…" at the last second I did something unexpected; my tongue speared out of my mouth, not only that, it had solidified into a knife made of bone and it embedded itself in Spyro's shoulder. He reared up in pain and surprise, giving me my chance.

I slammed my clenched paw into Spyro's face and he reeled away from me, clutching his shoulder. I looked at the stone clamp that held me in place and I slit my palm, smeared my blood all over the clamp and watched as it melted away. My tail was finally free and I reared up on my hind legs, staying hunched but keeping my claws free just in case. Spyro charged, as did I. We met in a blur of flashing teeth and claws, Spyro was doing something to make his speed increase, which came into serious effect when he drove his knee into my solar plexus. I backed away, gasping for air and hissing at Spyro, who growled. I glared over at the last three lights; all of them were behind me. With a grin I swiped my tail in a wide arc and the world became dark.

Dragons yelped in surprise and fear as they too were shrouded in darkness. I saw a small fireball flicker into life and Spyro's head was in its glow, my vision adapted and my smell sight kicked in.

"Who's in trouble now?" I jumped onto the wall creeping up to the ceiling and positioning myself above Spyro, this had to be done quickly and precisely, like a play. I allowed a small amount of saliva to drip out of my mouth. It landed beside Spyro and sizzled on the floor. He looked up.

**Spyro POV…**

He's above me! I fired an earth bullet straight up but heard no scream of pain. I slowed my breathing down and focused trying to keep my despairing thoughts out, but they still invaded my mind.

Everything was going according to plan; I used dragon time to keep Crux on the back foot, I kept his tail out of harms way, that tongue thing still got me though, I have to be more careful. Now I was in the dark and Crux could be anywhere in the room. I let out a stream of fire and the world around me was perceptible once again, but only for a moment.

It was all I needed, Crux was on the wall to my left, I whirled around and shot a stream of lava at Crux, who gasped and jumped away. I cursed, all my eggs in one nest, and it failed. Oh well, Crux didn't know I could only do that once for a while. The lava glowed slightly, offering a small amount of illumination in the room. I couldn't help myself anymore.

"_Where are you?!" _I roared.

"Here…" a voice whispered, right beside my ear. I lashed out but Crux was gone and scuttling away. "Scared of the dark, Spyro?" I heard Crux say. I tried to pinpoint the location of the voice, thankfully the crowd had gone silent, save for the few whispers of fear here and there. I felt something sharp tap my shoulder and I whirled around in the direction of the tapping before getting charged in the flank. I gasped as Crux's tail wrapped around my neck and squeezed like a boa constrictor. "Give in?" Crux asked me, his breath wafted into my ear. I gagged and he let go. I saw my chance and whirled around to strike at him. Crux was too fast and ran away from me. He laughed as he jumped me from the side, disappeared, and then attacked again. Now I knew, now I knew that Crux was going all out, he won't let me get up and I can't counter. I covered myself in fire and he hissed at me. Crux was visible now and I sent the fire covering my body over to him by sheer force of will, the attack hit home and Crux was thrown back. Crux got up awkwardly, he was burned; most of his scales were either covered in soot or charred. Suddenly a green aura covered Crux, I recognized this; Crux was healing himself. I roared and charged forwards, the aura covered us both as we tussled against each other. We backed away when I suddenly realized that my wounds were gone.

"You were caught in the healing bacteria, seems it affects others as well as myself, I should tell the doctor that." Suddenly the doors opened and Terrador stamped in.

"What is going on here?" he shouted. Crux covered his eyes with a wing which was quite tiny compared to what it should be. I suppose that was a weakness on his part. Terrador glared at me. "Spyro, what have I told you; when sparring, inform a teacher so he or she can supervise. And you Crux, the Guardians have need of your advise on a serious matter, Cynder should come to, and now that I'm thinking about it, Spyro as well." We all looked at each other, what was going on?

One thing was for sure, I could see Crux's expression and I knew as well as he did; something was very wrong.

**Uh-oh, what is happening?**


	8. Chapter 8

**We're meeting someone very special, prepare for a few surprises.**

Red Voltage Chapter 8; a Sliver of Happiness

**Cynder POV…**

I really hated not knowing things. I mean who doesn't? This mystery was setting my teeth on edge and I could tell Crux wasn't doing so well either. He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. I knew Crux was trying to tell me that he was okay, but I knew he wasn't. Why did I feel so concerned for him all of the time? Perhaps Perma was right, I do like Crux, a lot.

"I think this may come as a bit of a shock to you Crux." said Terrador before we passed through a set of double doors into the Pool of Visions room. Terrador stepped aside and I saw what was probably my first ever human.

She had olive green eyes and raven black hair tied up on the back of her head, making it look a bit like a bun. She wore a long white coat which was dirty and shredded, and stood at around five feet tall. Her cheekbones were fairly prominent and she smiled slightly. I gaped. I was totally unsure as to how she came here and why she wasn't a dragon like Crux.

Wait… Crux. I slowly looked at him and saw that he was trembling. I made a move to stop him should he try anything. Too late. With a yell, Crux flung himself at the human and they tumbled onto the floor.

"Crux, no!" I could hear the woman yelping in surprise and rushed over to aid her, as did Spyro. But I wasn't expecting to see that Crux wasn't attacking her, but licking her face. And the woman wasn't screaming, but laughing.

"Stop it, stop it Crux! It tickles!" Crux stopped and looked at the woman.

"I thought you'd know my name, Sharron." Sharron sighed but gave Crux a small smile.

"I never knew your real name, but Crux sounds good, synonym for mystery yes?" Crux gave an enthusiastic nod and hugged Sharron. I could faintly hear the Xeno dragon purring slightly. Sharron stroked Crux's back which only caused his purring to become louder.

"Am I missing something?" said Spyro. Crux hopped off of the human and for the first time I ever saw him, had a big grin on his face. Was this the first time I've seen him truly happy?

"This is Doctor Sharron, she worked with the people who made me a hybrid, but she never took part in any of the experiments and is often the one to delay experiments when I couldn't take it. She was always nice to me and played games with me. She would read to me and… she was the closest thing I had to family." Sharron blushed tremendously and stroked Crux's hair. I couldn't help but coo slightly and walk over to Crux. He smiled at me and I very nearly made an odd noise. I suppose he was so happy that he didn't care what he did, because he yanked me into a bear hug and held me tight.

"Crux, stop. I can't breathe…" Crux's grip slackened but he still didn't let go. I couldn't help myself, I hugged him back. He let go and sat on his haunches in front of Sharron.

"So… how did you get here?" Sharron's brow furrowed and she began her tale, "Well, when I heard that you escaped I knew that due to the Predators and Xenomorph's running around the place you'd have your best chance yet to escape. So I managed to hack into the computer systems and opened as many doors as I could to help, I deactivated some of the security guns and sent a virus through the combat androids. I only hoped I could see you again.

"But when I heard that the self destruct mechanism was activated I panicked. I didn't know what would happen to the ship with the new Shock Point drive. So I held on tight. I didn't expect to see what happened next. The self destruct mechanism didn't blow the ship up, it tore a hole through space. I was in the bio labs at the time, so I was far away from the engineering room. When I woke up after the blast, I found that the outer hull was completely stripped away, but again, I was safe, for I was deep inside the ship. I climbed out of the ship and searched for a settlement. I meet this kind cheetah named Hunter and he took me here." Crux nodded and smiled at Sharron.

"Thank you, thank you for being alive." Sharron smiled at Crux and hugged him again. We left the room, back to our lessons, but I doubt that Crux will be able to concentrate after this.

00000000

**Crux POV…**

As we walked back my mouth was beginning to ache but I was too happy to care. I noticed that Spyro was looking at me with a slight frown.

"You never told us about the doctor." I shrugged.

"I suppose that's because of my amnesia, at first I nearly attacked her, but when I remembered who she is I felt so happy. Sharron's the only light in my past, and I'll defend her to the death." I meant it, no one will hurt Sharron while I live and breathe. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly and after Cynder and I parted ways and went to our respective rooms, I fell asleep.

_I woke up inside a white room filled with lights. I winced slightly and looked down to keep my eyes undamaged. The door opened and I turned around, seeing a woman come through the door. She had green eyes and black hair. She smiled at me kindly. Why was she here? It wasn't feeding time as the guards put it. She had something tucked in her arm which became apparent when she walked inside. It was a board game, chess. I gasped, I loved chess and I got up quickly and watched as she set up a table and place the board on it._

"_My name's Doctor Sharron, just call me Sharron." She said as a greeting. She smiled as I sat down and we played. We talked as we played. Sharron trained to be a doctor in medicine and biology, apparently this was the only spot for her. She came here and took the job, and she told me that looking after me was voluntary work. No one else would._

"_But why would you look after me?" I asked. Sharron ruffled my hair playfully._

"_Because you need someone to care for you, you're not some emotionless test subject, you're a young boy, and I'm going to help you like one." I laughed and hugged her. She hugged me back, we stayed there for ages. There was still hope for me._

I woke up, it was already midnight. I got up and stretched. Sharron would always look after me. She did before, and she will again. I sighed, what could go wrong?

Never ask that question. Something brushed past me and I whirled around. My eyes scanned my room. I could have sworn that something just breathed on me. I wasn't alone. I activated my scent sight and started sniffing. I shook my head and switched my scent sight off. I was being ridiculous, there was nothing out there.

Outside a few birds chirped, completely masking the sound of clicking and laughter.

00000000

For the next few weeks I attended school, trained, learned a few things, history being the only thing I struggled at, because I was behind that a _lot_ and as a result, I had a lot of homework for that subject. Flying was a bitch because put simply, I couldn't my wings were too small and could barely manage a glide at best, powered flight was beyond me. One thing that brightened up my school days is that Sharron was the sub for biology. Sometimes the teacher, a luminous green poison dragon by the name of Acid, would have to leave, so Sharron opted to take over. Luckily she didn't give me any special treatment and helped the students as best as she could.

Shade's reaction was scornful, and when she tried to pry secrets from Sharron, she wasn't allowed to answer and Shade was going to get violent. I stopped her from attacking and a huge fight erupted in biology. Sharron gave us all an hour of detention and made us clean up, which was reasonable.

But the most infuriating thing that happened was the insane feeling that I was being watched. I felt that now, in maths. It was driving me nuts. I kept on glancing around the class as discreetly as I could, and took the occasional sniff, but the only thing I caught was someone's perfume, which smelled a bit like turnips for some odd reason. But no one else was there. I voiced my concerns to Cynder and she seemed as worried as I was.

"Maybe another Predator followed me here?" I suggested.

"Possible, but unlikely, Crux. It would've killed Sharron." I shook my head at Cynder's ignorance.

"Cynder, Sharron wasn't armed, where would be the sport in killing her? Predators only go after something that'll prove challenging, so if there's a Predator inside Warfang where there are several dragons who have magic on their sides and are generally a challenge, there will be killings, mark my words. I better tell the Guardians about this." Cynder grabbed my tail as I turned to leave.

"Tell you what, I'll come with you and we'll search for it. If we can't find it, we drop the subject, we find it, we tell the Guardians." Again, I shook my head.

"Cynder, we won't find it unless it wants us to. If it does reveal itself, we'll have to fight it and kill it."

So it was settled, tonight we're going for a walk.

**Cynder POV…**

I couldn't go to sleep; the thought of searching, and maybe finding, the Predator, filled my stomach with lead. I didn't want to know what it could do. But I promised Crux I would help him, and help him I will.

I got up out of my bed and began pacing the room. Crux was probably undergoing some sort of hallucination again. No, he was talking to _me_. Crux sneaked through the window and I yelped when he tapped my shoulder.

"Sorry, you ready?" he was certain, I could tell it in his eyes. He jerked his head, flicking his hair out of his eyes and followed me out of the door. "Okay, things to look out for; if you see displacement in the air, like a heat haze, tell me, if you hear a clicking noise, tell me." I nodded. We searched for hours. Crux didn't tire, but I did. I had to stop for breaks and despite that Crux stayed silent, I knew he was thinking that I was slowing him down.

I got up again and we were delayed, but not by me, by Shade and her cronies.

"Well, well, well. Who's awake during night hours?" she drawled. Crux kept on sniffing and looked around.

"Nothing here. Moving on." he said, ignoring the shadow dragoness completely, which I thought was a bad idea.

"Don't you dare ignore me, freak. I got a bone to pick with you. What is that thing that's teaching us biology? You know it. Tell me." Crux turned to Shade for a moment and I could see, even in the low light, that he wanted to hit Shade. But he turned around and walked away. I followed him and fell into step beside Crux.

"Crux… she'll attack us." I could've sworn I saw a smirk on his face.

"I know." A blast of shadow streaked past us and I could've sworn I saw a ripple on the building next to me.

"Crux," I began.

"I saw it." He cut me off." Shade appeared out of a shadow portal, along with the twins.

"You shall not ignore me! I will destroy you for defying me!" Crux kept on glancing at the haze, or where it used to be, it was gone. I was struck by an earth shot and I rocketed backwards. Grit was on me and I kicked out. Crux picked up Dirt and threw him at his twin with a roar. Shade fired blasts of shadow fire at me and I countered neatly, outfighting her at every turn. She snarled and charged me and we met in a whirlwind of slashing claws and biting teeth. I didn't know what Crux was doing but I soon realized that everywhere had gone silent. I knocked Shade away but she didn't lunge, she was staring open mouthed at something behind me.

I turned and saw the last thing I needed to see.

The Predator glared at Crux through its mask. If the dummy was scary, the actual thing was simply terrifying. I saw shrunken heads on a necklace and weapons lined a utility belt. It wore a suit that seemed to be made out of wiry mesh. It growled and Crux hissed.

"So you finally showed yourself, huh?" the Predator paused, it seemed shocked. It then began to laugh. Crux glanced at me in confusion and I stared back. My confusion became horror when it suddenly screamed in a distorted voice, _"Want a piece of me? You ugly… son of a bitch!" _

It was the Predator that Crux killed.

**Uh… Oh…**


End file.
